(Alliance News) - Growing at a rapid pace but, above all, transforming its identity. Leonardo's updated industrial plan to 2030, as explained by CEO Roberto Cingolani, marks the definitive transition from a major defense group to a security technology company, where military platforms, software, space, and data will be increasingly integrated into the same industrial system. And where the real business, if and when the weapons fall silent, will be cybersecurity.
As reported by la Repubblica on Friday, this vision is backed by figures that have convinced the stock market: while the winds of war weigh on Piazza Affari, Leonardo shares rose by 5.7%. The plan forecasts that by 2030, annual orders will rise to EUR32 billion compared to EUR23.8 billion in 2025, revenues will reach EUR30 billion from the current EUR19.5 billion, and gross profitability will hit EUR3.59 billion against EUR1.75 billion in 2025.
Three years ago, upon his arrival, Cingolani recounts, the group was very different: "The portfolio was fragmented and digitalization was very limited. Today, we have platforms in all domains."
It is precisely the integration between platforms and digital technologies, the CEO explains, that represents the true competitive advantage: "We can offer completely software or completely hardware solutions, and I believe this is our strength for the future."
Central to this strategy is Michelangelo Dome, the air defense project presented in October, which Leonardo aims to develop on a European scale by connecting radars, sensors, satellites, and weapon systems, even from different manufacturers.
A European "space shield," he adds, is necessary to face potential threats from the eastern front, "with missiles that can reach any of our cities within two or three minutes of launch."
According to Leonardo's estimates, Michelangelo could generate business opportunities of approximately EUR21 billion over the next decade, including six billion by 2030. The logic is what Cingolani defines as "multi-domain": military systems no longer operate in isolation but within a network of sensors, platforms, and data spanning from space to the ground and, prospectively, underwater.
Alongside traditional defense, the plan also opens up to global security: infrastructure protection, environmental monitoring, and emergency management. This is where, Cingolani explains, a portion of future business will be played out. Projections indicate that the USD1,000 billion in annual damages from cybercrime in 2020 could become USD1,000 billion per month by 2030.
By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter
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